eckersontheroad

Short drive to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. A bit of a wait for our turn to ride up to the top of the arch, but made good use of our time in the gift shop and display area. We rode up to the top in a very, VERY small car that is rigged like a Ferris wheel chair so that is stays upright as it makes it’s way to the top of the curved arch. There is a small viewing area at the top of the arch with windows to look out. It is pretty neat up there and you can see quite a lot of the city. The Gateway Arch is really very much a symbol like Ellis Island in that many of the travelers going west passed through St. Louis. I had ... read more

After a great night's rest and relaxing morning, we head off to a local park to go tubing down the creek. They have made it a kayak path, and the rapids are not too high. Luckily, the mild winter kept the creek low and slower moving so we were able to go down more rapids on a longer run than usually is safe. The kids had a blast! So much fun! Bella took a good spill and earned some good scraps and bruises, Eddie bloodied an ankle, but over all, not too many spills and nothing serious. All were smiling about the day. We ate a picnic in the park and headed back to the house to clean up. Again, Freddy is definitely wanting a brother after hanging with Eddie and Ryan! The evening finds us ... read more

We are driving to Arches National Park and we are running late as usual and Audra pulls us over and says "Hey, this is the turn for Goblin Valley - We HAVE to go to Goblin Valley!" So, what do we do? Go to Goblin Valley! It was a pretty cool place - like lots of giant mushrooms and (for those of you familiar with Super Mario Brothers, Mushroom!) The kids could run around and through them. I guess a sci-fi movie, Galaxy something or another, was filmed there. What a fantastic place to play hide and seek! I we lived here, the next birthday party would be held there! Off to Arches National Park. One after another, just another fabulous park! So very interesting and different than anything we have ever seen. The colors of ... read more

Hoover Dam is first on the list today. We had signed up for the dam tour, but when we got there, the elevators were broken so no tours running. Bummer! We watched the movie and saw an extra powerpoint about the dam they were running instead of the tours, then walked the top. It was extra impressive because it had super views of the Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge – an awesome structure in and of itself. It is hard to imagine the work that went into building either the dam or the bridge. We drove over the dam into Arizona, but had to turn back and go over it again because that road to the highway is closed now.Now off to the Grand Canyon about 4 hrs away. Arrived at the Grand Canyon close to ... read more

Off to Yosemite today – about 4hr drive to the gate. Yosemite is HUGE! and AWESOME! We stopped at the visitor’s center to plan our stay. We saw El Capitain, Bridal Falls, Half Dome and the monstrous rock walls lining the valley! So impressive! Pictures can't relate the impact you feel when standing in the valley looking all around. No climbers on the walls – it was afternoon by this time and too hot. The magnitude of this park is what is so impressive! The views were amazing! We drove the Yosemite Valley loop and then down to the south end to see Mariposa Grove which holds the giant Sequoias. We walked the grove and saw the Grizzly Giant – UNBELIEVABLE! 96ft circumferance and 209ft tall. Truly a Giant! Also in that grove were the first ... read more